George A. Zentmyer
University of California, Riverside
August 9, 1913 - February 8, 2003
|
Scientific Discipline: Plant, Soil, and Microbial Sciences Membership Type:
Member
(elected 1979)
|
Plant pathologist George Zentmyer was one of the world’s leading experts on Phytophthora, a soil-born water mold that is capable of destroying nearly a thousand different types of crops and trees worldwide. He focused much of his research on Phytophthora cinnamomi, which causes severe root rot in avocado trees and other tropical plants. His efforts resulted in the creation of resistant root stocks, which are credited with saving the avocado industry and are now used for widespread commercial production of avocados.
Zentmyer decided to go into the field of forest pathology at the age of fifteen when he became friends with a plant pathologist who opened his eyes to the harmful effects of tree diseases. In 1935 he received his BA degree in botany at the University of California, Los Angeles. From 1936 to 1938 he attended the University of California, Berkeley, where he earned both his master’s and his doctoral degrees in plant pathology. In 1944 he accepted a position in the Department of Plant Pathology at the University of California, Riverside, where he stayed until his retirement in 1981.
